RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Banking technology startup nCino tops the list for places to work in ratings by employees in a review of where tech employees do and don’t like to work while Charter Communications (Spectrum) comes in last among the 20 firms reviewed today.

While based in Wilmington, nCino is growing rapidly with a global reach. The firm, which is nearing “unicorn” status ($1 billion in valuation) impresses its employees enough to receive a 4.4 rating out of 5 at jobs site Glassdoor. Its CEO Pierre Naude shares a near-perfect rating by employees at 99 percent along with Jamie Macdonald of Parexel.

Charter/Spectrum received the lowest rating from employees at 2.6.

With war for tech talent is raging across the Triangle, North Carolina and the US with unemployment rates at record lows and nearly 30,000 open IT jobs in NC alone. So as employees look for jobs they are in the driver’s seat, and they often are looking for more than pay. They want perks. They want a good work environment. Thus comes into play Glassdoor  and other sites where employees have their say about their bosses and companies.

Startup Get Spiffy tops latest list, Frontier is last among Triangle tech firms as places to work

In the third of a series, WRALTechwire researched 20 RTP-based companies or those with a growing NC presence and large operations here that have been making news recently – from hiring to layoffs – at Glassdoor to see what their employees were saying. Firms range from new to old, small to large, in transition to reorganizing.

Criteria include:

1.      An overall rating system of 1 to 5 stars

2.      Approval of the CEO

3.      The percentage of employees who would recommend their employer to a friend.

Today’s breakdown

From 1 to 20, here is today’s list

1.nCino, 4.4

2.National Institutes of Health, 4.1

3.Pfizer, 3.9

4. Square 1 Bank (PacWest), 3.8

4.(tie) Syngenta, 3.8

4.(tie) Merck, 3.8

4.(tie) Fidelity Investments, 3.8

8.Smashing Boxes, 3.7

9.Verizon, 3.6

9.(tie) BASF, 3.6

9.(tie) Biogen, 3.6

9.(tie) MetLife, 3.6

13.Lexis Nexis, 3.5

14. AT&T, 3.3

14.(tie) EPA, 3.3

14.(tie) Flexential (formerly Peak 10), 3.3

14.(tie) Toshiba, 3.3

14.(tie) Parexel, 3.3

19. United Therapeutics, 3.0

20, Charter/Spectrum, 2.6

Worst and best places to work in Triangle’s tech hub? Employees have their say …

Here is a breakdown on today’s 20 companies listed in alphabetic order:

  • AT&T

Headquarters: Dallas, TX

CEO: Randall L. Stephenson

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.3

Approve of CEO: 52%

Recommend to a Friend: 55%

Senior Member of Technical Staff: $123,973

Select Perks: Employee discounts; Commuter checks and assistance; Legal assistance

  • BASF

Headquarters: Florham Park, NJ

CEO: Wayne T. Smith

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.6

Approve of CEO: 90%

Recommend to a Friend: 73%

Project Engineer: $101,397

Select Perks: Employee discounts; Employee assistance program; Gym membership

  • Biogen

Headquarters: Cambridge, MA

CEO: Michel Vounatsos

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.6

Approve of CEO: 66%

Recommend to a Friend: 66%

Senior Associate Scientist: $105,177

Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Commuter checks and assistance; Travel concierge

  • Environmental Protection Agency

Headquarters: Washington, D.C.

CEO: Andrew Wheeler

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.3

Approve of CEO: 32%

Recommend to a Friend: 54%

Senior Clinical Research Associate: $106,000–$115,000

Select Perks: Free lunch or snacks; Travel concierge; Gym membership

  • Fidelity Investments

Headquarters: Boston, MA

CEO: Abby Johnson

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.8

Approve of CEO: 90%

Recommend to a Friend: 78%

Senior Software Engineer: $93,608

Select Perks: Commuter checks and assistance; Employee assistance program; Travel concierge

Workers speak out about their bosses, good and bad – and CEOs are listening

  • Flexential (formerly Peak 10)

Headquarters: Charlotte

CEO: Chris Downie

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.3

Approve of CEO: 62%

Recommend to a Friend: 59%

Network Engineer: $77,000

Select Perks: 401K, insurance, PTO

  • Lexis Nexis

Headquarters: New York

CEO: Mike Walsh

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.5

Approve CEO: 64%

Recommend to a Friend: 60%

Senior Software Engineer: $11,933

Select Benefit: 18-23 PTO days

  • Merck

Headquarters: Kenilworth, NJ

CEO: Kenneth C. Frazier

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.8

Approve of CEO: 84%

Recommend to a Friend: 79%

Senior Member of Technical Staff: $123,973

Select Perks: Employee discounts; Gym membership; Employee assistance program

  • MetLife

Headquarters: New York

CEO: Michel Khalaf

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.6

Approve of CEO: 88%

Recommend to a Friend: 67%

Senior Financial Analyst: $78,816

Select Perks: Legal assistance; Gym membership; Travel concierge

  • National Institute of Health

Headquarters: Bethesda, MD

CEO: Francis S. Collins

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 4.1

Approve of CEO: 93%

Recommend to a Friend: 86%

Senior Research Fellow: $94,183

Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Mobile phone discount; Company social events

  • nCino

Headquarters: Wilmington, N.C.

CEO: Pierre Naude

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 4.4

Approve of CEO: 99%

Developer: $98,132

Select Benefit: Work from home option

  • Parexel

Headquarters: Waltham, MA

CEO: Jamie Macdonald

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.3

Approve of CEO: 99%

Recommend to a Friend: 50%

Senior Software Engineer: $113,906

Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Company social events; Gym membership

CEO to Wall Street: At Cisco, culture counts

  • Pfizer

Headquarters: New York, NY

CEO: Ian Read

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.9

Approve of CEO: 89%

Recommend to a Friend: 80%

Senior Scientist: $113,813

Select Perks: Company social events; Legal assistance; Gym membership

  • Smashing Boxes

Headquarters: Durham

CEO: Nick Jordan

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.7

Approve of CEO: 64%

Recommend to a Friend: 67%

Software Developer: $77,254

Selected benefits: Maternity and paternity leave

  • Spectrum (Charter Communications)

Headquarters: Stamford, CT

CEO: Thomas M. Rutledge

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 2.6

Approve of CEO: 4115%

Recommend to a Friend: 35%

Senior Network Engineer: $86,921

Select Perks: Employee discounts; Mobile phone discount; Company social events

  • Square 1 Bank (PacWest)

Headquarters: Durham

CEO: Frank Tower

Employee Average Rating: 3.8

Approval of CEO: 70%

Recommend to a friend: 69%

Analyst salary: $56,057

Selected benefits: 401K, 3 weeks PTO

  • Syngenta

Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland

CEO: Erik Fyrwald

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.8

Approve of CEO: 82%

Recommend to a Friend: 77%

Creative Director: $153K – $229K

Select Perks: Employee discounts; Gym membership; Company social events

  • Toshiba

Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan

CEO: Satoshi Tsunakawa

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.3

Approve of CEO: 88%

Recommend to a Friend: 64%

Senior Software Engineer: $104,135

Select Perks: Employee assistance program; Free lunch or snacks; Commuter checks and assistance

  • United Therapeutics

Headquarters: Silverspring, MD

CEO: Martine Rothblatt

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.0

Approve of CEO: 77

Recommend to a Friend: 51%

Senior Systems Engineer: $108K – $143K

Select Perks: Free lunch or snacks; Travel concierge; Gym membership

  • Verizon

Headquarters: New York, NY

CEO: Hans Vestberg

Employee Reviews

Employee Average Rating: 3.6

Approve of CEO: 54%

Recommend to a Friend: 66%

Software Engineer: $101,836

Select Perks: Employee discounts; Free lunch or snacks; Gym membership